As a child, I remember being dragged to a department store by my mother (what 10 year old boy likes going shopping?) and having to serve as the interpreter between my Mom and the sales clerk. I should mention: I’m no polyglot. I only speak English. Both my Mom and the clerk were speaking English; it’s … Read more
The first meeting was over the phone, two weeks ago. I was speaking to Bart, a Senior Marketing Manager at a Fortune 500 consumer products company. Bart was my principal point of contact. The purpose of our call was for Bart to prep me– provide relevant context and the desired outcomes for a leadership training … Read more
The professional basketball league (NBA) is about halfway through their 82 game regular season. The #1 ranked team in the Eastern Conference is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Last season’s Eastern Conference Champions, the Cavs currently have a record of 30 wins and 11 losses. On Friday, they fired their head coach, David Blatt. Yes, you read … Read more
Happy New Year!Did you create a list of goals for 2016? If you’re like most people, your resolution(s) focus on either achieving a specific goal (e.g., making more money), or improving yourself in one of the following dimensions: Physical (health, wellness) Emotional (relationships, mood) Mental (learning, focus) Spiritual (meaning, passion) It probably also involves taking … Read more
Every leader (and organization) has its strengths. Where do the strengths serve well? Where do they incur costs? I led the following awareness-building exercise with a team of leaders at a manufacturing organization. You can try it with alone, or with your team. Leadership Quality Awareness Exercise Think back on all the leaders you’ve ever … Read more
Ken is a nice guy.Everyone says so. A senior VP of strategy at a major aerospace company, Ken prides himself on being pleasant and agreeable to work with. Ken works really hard to be nice. So what’s wrong? Being nice is killing Ken’s effectiveness and efficiency at work.It’s also impacting his team, his peers, … Read more
Guess what: You’re being watched. Right now. Is your “Game Face” on? That is, are you aware of what the people you lead see under their microscope? They’re analyzing each detail of your your behavior-looking for clues on how best to respond. Don’t take it too personally, it’s not just you. As social animals, that’s … Read more
Culture is the fishbowl in which your company swims: it’s invisible, but impacts everything. Company culture is a combination of beliefs and behaviors, and is best defined as “how we do things around here”. As an external leadership consultant, I get invited to come and swim in different fishbowls every week. Sometimes the swim is … Read more
I can’t do this. I don’t know what I’m doing. This is too hard. I’m not going to make it here. I’m going to be found out. Do you have a track record of achievement, yet still hear these kind of messages running in your head? If so, you may be dealing with impostor syndrome -a … Read more
Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time with new leaders who want to hone their “executive presence”. They want to be perceived as confident and competent. They want to put forth their ideas with clarity and energy. In our time together, they’ve had the opportunity to design and present their ideas in a … Read more
